Contract Extensions

Number of posts : 178Age : 45Location : North of Hell, South of HeavenRegistration date : 2009-03-05

Subject: Contract Extensions Thu Jul 15, 2010 9:59 pm

There are two types of players when dealing with Contract Extensions; Unrestricted Free Agents (UFAs) and Restricted Free Agents (RFAs).

UFAs - Players who are aged 27 and older (as per TSN.ca).RFAs - Players who are aged 26 and younger (as per TSN.ca).

When a player under contract with your team is on the last year of said contract, the player is considered a Pending Free Agent (PFA). Their age at the time they will be a Free Agent is the age that an agent will consider when treating the player as either a UFA or RFA.

In order to keep your players, you must resign them before Free Agency begins (About a week after the playoffs end, give or take).

RFAs - you can resign as many of these as you like, as long as you have the roster space available.UFAs - you may only resign three of these, but are free to bid the ones you leave behind once Free Agency begins.

When resigning players, there are some things to keep in mind...

RFAs will be more inclined to sign short-term deals as their skills improve. If they feel a team is paying enough for the skill level they feel they'll reach, they may sign a longer term deal. Being RFAs, they do have a little less leniency when negotiating contracts, and therefore teams can lower their cap hits by including signing bonuses of up to 300% of the cap hit offered.

Should you not wish to resign your RFAs, or if you fail to resign an RFA by the time Free Agency begins, other teams will be able to bid on your unsigned RFAs, though they will be subject to compensation.

Also note that should the RFA not like the offer from their team, they may choose to go to Arbitration, where the SLHL Council will decide on a contract ruling. The team then has the option of accepting the decision or passing on it. Should the team pass on it, the player remains an RFA.

RFAs will NOT accept every offer sheet. If it is within the realm of what they are expecting, they will likely consider it.

Teams have until Free Agency begins to at least put forth qualifying offers for RFAs. These offers are a minimum of a 20% increase to their previous salary over three seasons, or their actual NHL contract.

UFAs will sign for their NHL contracts...whatever's remaining on them. No exceptions. Players that are without an NHL contract will sign a one year contract at their last NHL cap hit.

There is a possibility that a player/goalie will decline resigning with your team.

Reasons that your player may not resign with your team:

This is where it gets sticky. In the NHL, players choose to resign or not resign with their current team for various reasons. Here in the SLHL, one of those reasons will NOT be 'just because'. If a player is deciding to walk, there will be a specific reason for it. Examples...

Player did not like the ice time received the previous season.

Player was left on the bench for no apparent reason.

Player was in the minors longer than necessary.

Player doesn't like the money being offered to resign.

Player doesn't like the direction of the team, perhaps feeling pushed out by youth.

Some of the more talented players may stick with a team for a few seasons, but should the team continue to underachieve for those seasons, he may want to go to a more motivated franchise.